Thursday, 8 October 2009

The Japanese don't give their typhoons very interesting names. Today we were due for a big one called "Number 18".

I was kinda hoping it wouldn't come around until Friday so I could have two consecutive days off. No such luck. The trains were delayed for hours because of the strong winds. I thought the Yokohama Music Fair was this month when in actual fact it's not until next month. Lucky then, I had enough time to realize my mistake. I was also planning to meet up with a friend of a friend in Yokohama. I didn't get the call, so that was given a miss too.

Surprisingly after quite a bit of rain last night and this morning, the skies opened up into a picture of blue. Amazing! I'd put two Fender guitars on hold at Ishibashi, so I thought I'd go into Shinjuku to make my next unnecessary guitar purchase.

Just for a laugh I thought I'd wear my fluro yellow Oakleys. I got a few strange looks. Yes, stranger than the usual strange looks. At first I was a little self-conscious thinking I looked a little clown-like. But compared to the "competition", I guess I'm one hot clown. Har har.

One of the guitars is at the Ishibashi Umeda store in Osaka, a paisley pink Strat. Because I don't have the chance to try it, I tried the equivalent guitar with a different finish in Shinjuku. I wasn't that excited by it. It sounded a little weak and noisy, of course compared to the noiseless pickups of the Telecaster I reserved at this store.

The guitar I reserved was a special 1999 American Deluxe Telecaster. What sets this one apart is an extra Strat pickup in between the usual two with a 5-way position switch and a 2-way mini toggle giving seven total tonal possibilities.

What makes this guitar somewhat rare, is that this guitar was produced for two years only in 1998 and 1999. I played this guitar for at least an hour through a Marshall and a Fender amp. It sounded good and was in pretty good condition. Not mint, but still quite clean. I tried the current model Deluxe, but to my eyes I prefered the sounds of this one.

I bargained with the staff as hard as I could, which was the usual uncomfortable laugh, and to and fro-ing. What I had in my favour was that I just didn't, nay DON'T need ANOTHER guitar, so it was fairly easy to walk, which gave me a nice Poker hand.

In the end I managed a 5,000 yen saving for what they were asking for it, with an additional, almost 2,000 yen in redeemable future store purchases with their point card. Not bad, but damn I had a killer headache leaving that shop!

We had some coffee at Maccas, followed by some tasty sushi (No, not at Macdonalds though haha, as if!)At the moment I'm selling some stuff on eBay (They had a one day "no insertion fee" day on Tuesday), including two of my older electrics, so I have a new place for this one. Didn't help my Italian guilt though. I didn't feel as happy as I should.

What cheered me up no end, was taking some pics of it, and bashing out some riffs on arrival back home. Check out this Youtube demo. (No, it's not me). This axe has some serious MOJO!

About Me

For some reason I have decided to leave my fine, if a little ordinary well paying job and family home where I don't pay rent and move to a country where I won't be able to read and barely speak the language. I have been to Tokyo before for a very short time. I was lost, confused and virtually on another planet. Why am I doing this? Because I HAVE to. I need to get out of the comfort zone I am in and really begin to live my life, start again and hopefully be happier overall. When I am sober I am thinking, "What the hell are you thinking?!?" but when I'm drunk I'm thinking "WOO HOOO!". So maybe if I'm drunk all the time I will accept this better.